Many people may own a portable electronic device. These portable electronic devices may include mobile phones (e.g., cellular or cell phones) and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Portable electronic devices may have increasing capability beyond voice communications. Many portable electronic devices may incorporate an input device, such as a keyboard or touch screen, to input characters into the portable electronic device.
Portable electronic devices may have a hard input panel, such as a keyboard having keys with letters, numbers, and symbols upon them. Such a keyboard may be modeled on a conventional keyboard, such as a typewriter keyboard or computer keyboard. The keyboard may be smaller in size than such a conventional keyboard. The keys may have multiple letters, numbers, or symbols upon them to maximize efficiency for the smaller size. The keys may be small in size, such as being smaller than a conventional keyboard. In some cases, the keys may be smaller than a typical adult fingertip. In such embodiments, smaller key size may lead to difficulty in entering information, such as hitting of incorrect keys.
Portable electronic devices may have a soft input panel where the input is entered through the display or screen of the portable electronic device, such as a touch screen. The input to the portable electronic device may be completed using a finger or an object, such as a stylus. Some portable electronic devices allow input only using a particular method, depending on the portable electronic device configuration. For example, some portable electronic devices require that a finger be used with the soft input panel; a stylus may not work to perform entry due to the configuration of the input panel. The soft input panel may display a virtual keyboard that is a replica of a conventional computer keyboard, such as a QWERTY type keyboard as may be commonly used. The virtual keyboard may be reduced in size, in comparison with a conventional computer keyboard, to fit onto the screen of the portable electronic device. As a result of being reduced in size, the keys displayed on the screen may be small in size, such as being smaller than a standard key on a conventional computer keyboard. The size may be such that the key is smaller than a typical adult fingertip.
Increasingly, portable electronic devices may incorporate an accelerometer. The accelerometer may be used by applications to sense the orientation of the portable electronic device in space and respond accordingly, such as by rotating the display output. For example, some applications may cause the screen display to rotate in response to the portable electronic device being rotated. For example, the screen display may rotate from portrait to landscape and vice versa. Such an application may keep the display in a certain orientation for the user, regardless of the orientation of the portable electronic device. Such accelerometers may measure movement of the portable electronic device in up to three dimensions.
These and other embodiments and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the various exemplary embodiments.